Active Missionaries

Bill & Lillie Aiken

Rev. William R. and Lillie Ann Aiken have been working in the field of Jewish evangelism since 1975. They have served the Lord in that capacity in the US and Canada.

As the Director of Remnant Ministries in Cleveland, Ohio, he was responsible for the oversight of a staff of nineteen located in several cities of the US and two couples working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He edited The Trumpeter, a quarterly magazine devoted to the work of the ministry, Biblical doctrine, and God’s work with the Jewish people: past, present, and future.

For ten years he was the National Director of The Christian Friends of Israel of Canada, Inc., the Canadian “arm” of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc., Bellmawr, NJ. Bill’s ministry involved overseeing a staff of ten workers in five cities of Canada. On a personal basis he was actively involved in reaching the Jewish community of Montreal and the Greater Toronto area, through witnessing, Bible studies, and speaking in area churches on behalf of the mission.

Presently Bill is serving the Lord under the auspices of Israel’s Hope Ministries of USA. For ten years he had worked under the Canadian branch of this outreach. We have now incorporated the ministry in the USA. He is involved in outreach to the Jewish communities of Cleveland, Warren, Akron, Canton and Youngstown, Ohio. For five years, along with his Jewish work, he also pastored a small church in Rome, Ohio. After five years of ministry to the church he resigned and now is working exclusively in Jewish ministry. This involves evangelistic Bible studies, personal witnessing, special outreaches for Jewish people, speaking at conferences-both missionary and prophetic- and pulpit supply.

Lillie Aiken was saved at the age of thirty-two and has spent the last thirty-seven years assisting her husband in the ministry. Bill and Lillie have four children and thirteen grandchildren, including two adopted granddaughters from China.

Doug & Heather Amundson

Doug is the son of one of our former pastors and we have supported him and his family since 2006. Having previously served in Chile, they now work at the home office of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE).

Mel & Sally Boerema

Alberta, Canada

Mel and Sally (a member of Gospel Life Church) met while they attended the Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music and married shortly after graduating. Our church started supporting them in March 1977 after they were accepted to serve with North America Indigenous Ministries (NAIM). They started ministry with the Sto-lo People of Agassiz, British Columbia and from there they moved to Lytton, British Columbia to work among the Thompson (Ntlakyapamuk) people. It was here that God buried their hearts to serve people. They then moved on to Vernon, British Columbia among the Okanagan people to serve as interim director of Kla-How-Ya Wilderness trails. In 2001, this camping program moved to Alberta, taking the Boeremas with it. After five years, the trails program came to an end, but God then led Mel to pastor Piikani Lighthouse Fellowship on the Piikani Reserve. It is here that they continue to serve the Lord.

Beth Britton O'Hara

Jim and Beth Britton moved to Pontianak, Indonesia in November of 1973, serving there as dorm parents for missionary children, and later running the mission guest house and doing the government work on the tribal missionaries’ behalf so that they could retain permission to work in the tribal areas. They lost their missionary visa for Indonesia in the early 1980’s and began working with World Outreach Fellowship with missionaries in South and Central America, and leading summer sprint teams to many countries around the world. In 1994 World Outreach Fellowship merged with Pioneers. Jim served with the Member Care department of Pioneers, acting as a pastor to missionaries in many regions of the world, but especially in the SE Asia region. Beth worked in the Pioneers finance department. On March 31st, 2008 the Lord called Jim home shortly after he had returned from ministering with some of his Indonesian missionaries and national pastors in the river villages of South Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. He was 60 years old.

Jim and Beth were blessed with three sons. Seth, Shane and Jimmy. The Lord called Shane home in 2000, leaving a wife and two small children. Seth and Jimmy are both married and live with their families in Florida. Shane’s wife remarried and lives in Michigan. Beth enjoys time with her children and the 9 grandchildren as often as possible, and also loves returning to Evans City to be with her mother, Fae Hirschy and her brother and sister and their families. Beth married Bud O'Hara on November 14, 2015 and her father Phil Hirschy went home to be with his Lord on January 31, 2016.

Gospel Life Church has been a supporter of the Brittons since the early days of their ministry (1972). Beth is so grateful for the prayers, love and support of dear friends at Gospel Life Church through all these years.

Jeff & Linda Brown

Jeff and Linda are members of Grace Baptist Church, Muncie, IN. They met as Jeff was at Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, MN, where he studied for his two master's degrees and later his Ph.D. Their first year of marriage they spent in southwestern Germany, where he substituted for a missionary who needed a furlough. After completing his degree, Jeff pastored a church in the Grand Rapids, MI, area for 7 years.In 1986 Jeff and Linda answered the Lord's call to be full-time missionaries to Germany and joined Baptist Mid-Missions. In 1989 they arrived in Munich, Germany. After one year of language school they moved to Erlangen, a city just north of Nürnberg. In 1991 the Independent Baptist Church of Erlangen began holding services. They trained the church in many areas over the next 15 years. When they left the church in 2006, it was totally independent with their own pastor, many fine leaders in the church, good ministries for both outreach and within the church. It also was in its own building.In 2008 at the request of the Erlangen church, Jeff and Linda began a church plant in Nürnberg, just 20 minutes south of the mother church. The Independent Baptist Church of Nürnberg has moved from the original location to a much larger one, able to accommodate the growing congregation. Their tasks right now are training leaders to step into the many levels of leadership within a church plant. We are actively praying for the Lord's choice for a pastor for this church.

In addition to the church ministry, Jeff and another BMM missionary started the Theological Training Center of Nuremberg-Erlangen. We now have five faculty. There Christians are trained for ministry, including pastoral ministry in local churches.The Browns took four children (Jeremy, Janet, Julianne, Jason) with them to Germany, where they attended the German schools and were actively involved in the ministries of the church. They were excellent missionaries themselves. Each one came back to the USA to attend a Christian University and have remained there. They are actively serving the Lord in both evangelism and in their respective churches.

Leon & Donna Duell

The Duells began their missionary career in 1992 (with ABWE) when in their 40s, serving for 6 years in Ukraine, right after the break-up of the Soviet Union. They then had the privilege of opening the country of Russia for ABWE and serving there for 10 years. Their primary ministry was in the area of leadership development and assisting national churches in the process of reproduction. They are presently serving in Anchorage, Alaska with the same emphasis in partnership with Dimond Baptist Church, with an emphasis on multi-cultural ministries. GLC has prayerfully and financially supported the Duells since 1994.

Dave & Nancy Eldert

Dave and Nancy (a former member of Gospel Life Church) first met when Dave came to Brazil for 9 months while he was in college. At the time, he was engaged to Sue Martin. Dave and Sue married in 1967 and arrived on the field in Brazil in 1972. Nancy joined the same mission (Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission) in 1977 to work in the home office of Springfield, IL. Dave and Sue worked in the interior of Vila Paraguai with the Antioch Bible Institute and Silver Lake Bible Camp ministries. Nancy worked in Fortaleza at SIBIMA Seminary, with the mission field treasury, and with missionary documents. In 2002 Nancy was in the guest house when Sue discovered she had cancer. Then in 2005 the cancer came back, and Dave and Sue went to the US to treat it in North Carolina. In 2008 Sue went to be with the Lord. Dave and Nancy started talking through internet (skype) to each other. In July 2009 they were engaged and were married in January of 2010. The Elderts are still involved in the ABI and SLBC ministries, as well as Priscila School and Guest House ministries. Dave is often invited to different churches to preach. At the present they are considering a move to a state further south called Alagoas.

Scott & Erin Kemp

Capetown, South Africa

Scott and Erin Kemp met in Bible college in 1997 and were married 2 years later. Erin grew up in Guatemala, where her parents minister to this day. Following five years of ministry at Christ Bible Church in Cranberry Twp, PA (2007-2012), Scott and Erin became missionaries in South Africa. In 2016 they helped form "7 Rivers Outreach" a church planting ministry of Grace Baptist Church of Amanzimtoti. 7 Rivers Outreach is located in a Zulu village in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. For more information visit: 7riversoutreach.org

Lucy Lieb

Fortaleza, Brazil

Although born in the United States, Lucy grew up in Brazil in a missionary family (our church supported her parents, Ed and Jane Lieb). After the Lord saved her, she was baptized at First Baptist Church of Evans City during furlough at nine years old. It was a few years later that God called her to the mission field during a missions conference here at the church. After college, she spent five years serving in Brazil, teaching English as a foreign language. Lucy then spent a year studying Christian Education at Moody Bible Institute with the intent of returning to Brazil as a full time missionary. In 1982, the Brazil Gospel Fellowship Mission accepted Lucy as a missionary candidate, allowing her to return to Brazil later that year as a full time missionary. Since 1984 our church has supported Lucy as she has been serving with SIBIMA (Maranatha Bible Institute and Seminary) in teaching education classes and serving in the library. Once a week, she gets the opportunity to work with Priscila School, and also serves at Nova Metropole Bible Church with the Christian education team.